Red Wings solution to power play ... get more pucks on net

Detroit’s Patrick Eaves, front, is knocked off his skates by Philadelphia’s Mark Streit who clears him from in front of goalie Steve Mason in the first period, Tuesday, in Philadelphia. The Flyers won 5-0. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

DETROIT >> When it comes to solving the Red Wings’ woes on the power play the answer is quite simple, get more pucks on net.

“We have to find a way,” Niklas Kronwall said. “We’ve got to forget about all the go here, go there, whatever, just get some more pucks to the net, it’s pretty simple. I know we’ve been talking about it. I said it before, enough talking, we got to go out there and actually do it on the ice.”

In Tuesday’s 5-0 loss at Philadelphia, Detroit managed just three shots on goal on four man-advantage opportunities, finishing 0-for-4.

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“At times we’ve done a bad job of setting up,” Daniel Alfredsson said. “That’s been an issue a couple of times the last few games. Teams are really aggressive. We do a pretty good job of getting in shooting lanes on our PK but for any successful power play, as long as I’ve been in the league, you always come back to the same thing. You always come back to the same thing, shoot the puck and get people in front. We got to find a way to get some more pucks to the net and give this team some momentum.”

Those three shots on goal came in eight minutes of power play time.

“When you never look at the net, when you just stickhandle and pass it around on the outside, not much is going (happen),” coach Mike Babcock said. “When that’s your skill set pretty soon you’re not on the power play.”

The Wings’ power play, which ranked in the top 10 in late December, has slipped to 22nd in the league, scoring just 16.2 percent of the time.

“Especially on the road, special teams become more important,” Alfredsson said. “I think it’s tough five-on-five because the other team has the matchup advantage.”

The power play has struggled the most on the road of late, going 0-for-23 over the last six games on the road. At home, the Wings are 4-for-23 with the man advantage over the last five games.

“We just got to find a way to move the puck a little better to open up more space up top to get those shots through,” Alfredsson said.

A lot of the issues on the power play can be pegged to who’s missing from the lineup – Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.

But the players aren’t going to use that as an excuse.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kronwall said. “It gives other people an opportunity and we haven’t been taking advantage of that opportunity.”

In Tuesday’s loss, 13 players were given at least 50 seconds or more of power play time, including Darren Helm, Joakim Andersson, Patrick Eaves, Riley Sheahan and Tomas Jurco.

“In pro sports overall, once you start looking for excuses then the team is in trouble,” Alfredsson said. “Everybody who gets to this level knows you’ve got to do whatever it takes in all situations. It might be the plane was late the night before or the ice was bad, so many things you can look at, you’ve got to make sure you point the energy in the right direction and don’t make it negative.”

Datsyuk has missed the last 11 games with a lower-body injury and Zetterberg has missed the last two games with a bad back. Franzen was placed on injured reserve after suffering a setback due to a concussion. He had just returned Sunday after missing 16 straight games. Franzen will miss a minimum seven days.

Howard expected back Friday

The Wings decided to give Jimmy Howard an extra few days off before getting him back between the pipes.

“I just needed a couple of practices,” Howard said. “I didn’t really practice at all, skated mostly with Jimmy (Bedard), which is still good but it felt like I needed to see some shots in practice before getting back in there.”

Howard is expected to start Friday when the Wings host the Washington Capitals.

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